Employees of two casinos in Niagara are at risk of layoffs

Over 1000 Niagara casinos' employees are at risk of layoffs

In the Niagara Falls city, there has been a social uproar over the potential for job cuts at two of the region's iconic casinos, Casino Niagara and Fallsview Casino. The issue was raised by the nation's largest private sector union, Unifor Local 199. The union is concerned about the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation's (OLG) plan to modernize the region's gambling business. This is, in particular, the appointment of a new service provider for the aforementioned casinos. According to the union, this could contribute to the loss of jobs for 1,300+ employees.

Job cuts in casinos are a strong blow to the local economy, because initially these gambling establishments were conceived as key to attracting tourists to the city.

A pinch of facts

The economic recession of the 1990s (provoked, among other things, by the subsidence of the tourism sector) forced the administration of the city of Niagara Falls to take urgent measures. Niagara Falls attracted tourists only as a seasonal phenomenon - in the warm season, and during the winter the region fell into "hibernation". It was necessary to create conditions for year-round tourism.

Enlisting the support of the provincial government, the city's leadership held a referendum in which city residents decided whether to open a casino in Niagara Falls or not. The opening of the casino was supposed to settle the issue with the shortage of jobs, ensure the inflow of investments and tourists, and remove part of the tax burden from the population.

A referendum in November 1994 ended a heated debate between supporters and opponents of a potential casino, with more than 60 percent of Niagara Falls residents voting in favor. And already in December 1996, Niagara celebrated the grand opening of Niagara Casino.

7,000 guests were invited to this event, and special guest Domenic Alfieri, the then president of the Ontario Casino Corporation (which later formed the modern OLG), called Casino Niagara not just a gambling hall, but "the beginning of a much larger concept".

Plans and their implementation

At the time of the opening of Casino Niagara, approximately 3,000 people were already registered as casino employees (about 80% of their number were residents of the Niagara Region) and it was planned that this gambling establishment would "attract 16,000 visitors a day and gross $650mln a year".

Initially, Casino Niagara was conceived as a source of jobs for the first time. The authorities planned to replace it with a larger, more luxurious casino in Fallsview, as well as properly equip nearby attractions and create high-rise buildings (including restaurants, spas, hotels) to meet the needs of tourists. But as it turned out, Casino Niagara has become not a transshipment base, but the cornerstone of the region's entertainment life. So, in choosing the site for the new, much larger Fallsview Casino, complete with a spa and a 1,500-seat concert hall, both the city and the province decided not to close Casino Niagara, because it not only served its role as a tourist magnet, but also provided employment to several thousand local residents.

Situation today

Unifor Local 199 is concerned about the situation that is happening with the casino, also because most of the employees of Casino Niagara are not registered with any union and therefore cannot protest their reduction. And the upcoming modernization will destroy the goals for which Casino Niagara was opened - the economic development of the city and the provision of jobs for the population.

At the same time, OLG states that the casino modernization is beneficial for the population of the region. After all, the costs of developing and maintaining the casino will become the responsibility of the service provider, and public money will no longer be spent on this.

Author: Richard Hayes, senior Editor